Project Summary/Abstract
The goal of this exploratory research project is to improve understanding about the mechanisms by which
mammalian neural circuits decode environmental chemosensory information and use that information to
support survival and reproduction.
Funded Awards
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative funds a wide-variety of research: toolmakers, trainees, individual labs testing new hypotheses, and large, team-based efforts aiming to catalyze neuroscience inquiry forward. Explore NIH BRAIN Initiative funded awards listed below. Click on the project title to learn more about it within NIH RePORTER.
To see more NIH-funded awards and associated publications, please visit the NIH RePORTER.
Title
Investigator(s)
Institution
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunity #
Project #
TitleInvestigating information processing in parallel circuits that link external chemical signals to social behavior
Investigator
Julian P Meeks
Institute
ut southwestern medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
TitleInvestigating the Role of Neurotensin on Valence Assignment During Associative Learning in the Basolateral Amygdala
Investigator
Jacob Michael Olson
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Learned associations between environmental stimuli and organism-effecting outcomes guide adaptive
behavior. When healthy, this process results in increased rewards and decreased harm.
TitleLarge-scale monitoring of sensory transformations in the mammalian olfactory system
Investigator
Shawn Denver Burton
Institute
university of utah
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
How information is transformed as it propagates through a neural circuit remains an outstanding question of modern
neuroscience.
TitleMACHINE LEARNING APPROACHES FOR ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL CELL CLASSIFICATION
Investigator
Alison L Barth
Institute
carnegie-mellon university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
ABSTRACT
We will use our expertise in somatosensory organization and plasticity to develop novel and
automated solutions for cell identification based upon neural activity, in order to decode the
algorithms neural circuits use for information processing.
TitleMechanisms of neural circuit dynamics in working memory anddecision-making
Investigator
Carlos D Brody, Mark S Goldman, Jonathan William Pillow, Hyunjune Sebastian Seung, David W Tank, Samuel Sheng-Hung Wang, Ilana Witten
Institute
princeton university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Working memory, the ability to temporarily hold multiple pieces of information in mind for manipulation, is
central to virtually all cognitive abilities.
TitleMechanistic dissection of the neural basis of the resting-state fMRI signal using multi-modal approaches
Investigator
Patrick James Drew, Nanyin Zhang
Institute
pennsylvania state university, the
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary The primary goal of this application is to elucidate the neural basis of resting-state
functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) signal using multi-modal approaches including multi-echo (ME)-
rsfMRI, MR-compatible calcium signal recording, optogenetics and multi-laminar electrop
TitleMethodologically-Integrated Approaches Linking Cell Types to Neural Circuits and Function
Investigator
Edward M Callaway
Institute
salk institute for biological studies
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
Understanding the circuit mechanisms that give rise to perception and behavior requires linking neuronal
activity to connectivity. This can be accomplished at multiple scales and ideally can be related to further
studies using activity manipulations to demonstrate causality.
TitleMRI CORTICOGRAPHY: DEVELOPING NEXT GENERATION MICROSCALE HUMAN CORTEX MRI SCANNER
Investigator
David Alan Feinberg, Chunlei Liu, Pratik Mukherjee, Kawin Setsompop, Lawrence L Wald
Institute
university of california berkeley
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
SUMMARY
The overarching objective of our proposal is to bring noninvasive human brain imaging into the microscale
(50-500 micron isotropic) resolution in order to create a tool for studies of neuronal circuitry and network
organization in the human brain.
TitleMulti-context software for robust and reproducible neuroscience image analysis
Investigator
Xenophon Papademetris, Dustin Scheinost
Institute
yale university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary (Abstract)
The goal of this application is to develop, test, and disseminate multi-context (command line, desktop, server,
and web applications) software for robust and reproducible neuroscience image analysis from data across mul-
tiple scales (two photon microscopy, mesoscale Ca2+
TitleMulti-regional neural circuit dynamics underlying short-term memory
Investigator
Shaul Druckmann, Nuo Li
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
Short-term memory (STM) is a core cognitive function, critical for reasoning, decision-making, and flexible
behavior. Though it has been recognized as a key function of interest for many decades, the critical neural
substrate of STM is little understood.
TitleNeuroethics of aDBS Systems Targeting Neuropsychiatric and Movement Disorders
Investigator
Wayne K Goodman, Gabriel Lazaro-Munoz, Amy L Mcguire
Institute
baylor college of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY
Adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS) systems can record neural activity and adjust stimulation in real
time.
TitleNeuromodulatory control of collective circuit dynamics in C. elegans
Investigator
Steven Willem Flavell
Institute
massachusetts institute of technology
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Many animal behaviors are organized into long-lasting states, perhaps most strikingly in the sleep/wake
and emotional states that mammals display. However, the fundamental mechanisms that allow animals to
initiate, maintain and terminate these states are unknown.
TitleNeuronal mechanisms of human episodic memory
Investigator
Adam Nathaniel Mamelak, Ueli Rutishauser
Institute
cedars-sinai medical center
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
The rapid formation of new memories and the recall of old memories to inform decisions is essential for human
cognition, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood.
TitleNeurostimulation and Recording of Real World Spatial Navigation in Humans
Investigator
Nanthia A Suthana
Institute
university of california los angeles
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary/Abstract
Decades of research and clinical observations have established that episodic memory, the ability to remember
recently experienced events, depends on the hippocampus and associated structures in the medial temporal
lobe (MTL), including entorhinal, perirhinal and parahippocam
TitlePredictive models of brain dynamics during decision making and their validation using distributed optogenetic stimulation
Investigator
Bijan Pesaran
Institute
new york university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary
During behavior, the oculomotor system is tasked with selecting objects from an ever-changing visual field and
guiding eye movements to these locations.
TitleResolving Fine Architectures of Human Gray Matter with Ultra-High-Resolution Diffusion MRI
Investigator
Yulin Ge, Jiangyang Zhang
Institute
new york university school of medicine
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract: Our brain is a complex network with multiple levels of organization in white matter (WM) and gray
matter (GM). The axonal and dendritic organizations of local GM tissue form one of the structural bases of
normal brain functions.
TitleSABER: Scalable Analytics for Brain Exploration Research using X-Ray Microtomography and Electron Microscopy
Investigator
William R Gray Roncal
Institute
johns hopkins university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Abstract
Advances in imaging have had a profound effect on our ability to generate high-resolution measurements of
the brain’s structure.
TitleScalar Closed-Loop STN/GPi DBS Based on Evoked and Spontaneous Potentials
Investigator
Dennis Alan Turner
Institute
duke university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Abstract
DBS therapy for Parkinson's disease is now the primary surgical approach for Parkinson's disease, recently
FDA approved at 4 years after onset of disease.
TitleSensorimotor processing, decision making, and internal states: towards a realistic multiscale circuit model of the larval zebrafish brain
Investigator
Florian Engert, Jeff W Lichtman, Haim Sompolinsky
Institute
harvard university
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
Project Summary - A realistic multiscale circuit model of the larval zebrafish brain
The working group of the BRAIN initiative (BRAIN 2025, a Scientific Vision) identified “the analysis of circuits of
interacting neurons as being particularly rich in opportunity, with potential for revolutionary adv
TitleSpinal root stimulation for restoration of function in lower-limb amputees
Investigator
Lee E Fisher, Douglas J Weber
Institute
university of pittsburgh at pittsburgh
Fiscal Year
Funding Opportunities Number
Project Number
PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Recent advances in design and actuation have led to important improvements in prosthetic limbs. However, these devices
lack a means for providing direct sensory feedback, requiring users to infer information about limb state from pressure on
the residual limb.